Tag Archives: Press

Sindhi Adabi Sangat and Sindh Writers and Thinkers Forum jointly organized a human chain from Karachi Press Club to Sindh Assembly Building on Sunday to protest against passage of Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance (SPLGO) 2012. A large number of writers, poets, journalists, civil society activists and politicians took part in making the human chain. Amid tight security by police around the Sindh Assembly building the participants also comprised of women and children who were restricted at the Arts Council round-about, where they gathered and the leaders addressed to the participants. The police had closed down the gates along the road leading towards Sindh Secretariat and Sindh Assembly. Dr. Mushtaq Phul, General Secretary of Sindhi Adabi Sangat, noted writers and authors Agha Saleem, Irshad Memon, Noor Ahmed Memon, Inam Shaikh, Ishtiaq Ansari, Gul Hassan Kalmati, Qabool Abro, Manzoor Solangi, Murtaza Sial, veteran Sindhi poets Akash Ansari, Hidayat Baloch, authors journalist Dastagir Bhatti and G. N. Mughal, Hamsafar Gadahi politicians Ismail Rahu, Ali Hassan Chandio, Shafi Mohammad Jamote, civil society activists Prof. Mushtaq Mirani, Muzaffar Chandio and Zulfiqar Halepoto were the prominent among the participants of the human chain.

KARACHI – The participants of a huge public gathering of nationalist and other political parties on Wednesday rejected the Sindh People Local Government Law, terming it a plot of ruling PPP and MQM to plunge the province into civil war-like situation, which may pave way for division of Sindh in future.The protest sit-in, which was organised by the Save Sindh Committee, comprised of nationalist parties. They staged sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club and demanded immediate withdrawal of the controversial local government law.The workers’ caravans of the political parties while hoisting their party flags and chanting slogans against the PPP government reached the venue of sit-in on Wednesday’s afternoon, which converted into huge public gathering.Besides Sindh’s nationalist parties,

I share Aziz Narejo, former President of Sindhi Association of North America (SANA)’s alarm that increasing demands by off-shoot groups of MQM could lead to extreme violence and possible civil war in Sindh. Yesterday, received an e-mail pointed out to dramatic increase in some of the Urdu media inciting Urdu-speaking Sindhis to demand a separate province (Jinnahpur) and urging police actions against Sindhi, Baloch, and other ethnic groups in areas such as Liyari. The press conference by an organization that calls itself “Southern Sindh Province Movement” too appear to be part of the same conspiracy. The introductions of the leaders giving the press conference left no doubt that all of them are either past or present leaders of MQM. All Sindh loving people have to be prudent and determined to stop such conspiracies before they destroy peace in Sindh. One caution we must exercise is that we ought to be careful and not respond in a manner that will bring more attention to this silly demand!

I understand that there has been already a group in Karachi, Sindh that has been demanding a “Mohajir Province” for some time. As this group is largely ignored by others, they have failed to gain any traction. What we have to watch-out are the actions of MQM as it has a formidable organization and following in larger cities of Sindh and as well as branches in many cities of Europe and the USA. As Aziz Narejo says we have to strongly discourage those Sindhis who seem to focus on dividing Sindhis instead of unifying them.

The two actions that require urgent and maximum consideration of overseas Sindhis are to unify Sindhis and support creation of a strong and well-run international organization that will have presence in all major cities of the world.

KARACHI / HYDERABAD: Supporters of the leftist coalition group, the Sindh Progressive Committee, had a run-in with the Barelvi religious-political party Sunni Tehreek at the Hyderabad Press Club on Tuesday, resulting in the police hauling in almost two dozen activists.

The Sunni Tehreek had been protesting the recent spate of violence in Karachi and had wrapped up the event. The Sindh Progressive Committee (SPC), which comprises the Workers Party, Labour Party, Communist Party, Jeay Sindh Mahaz, National Party, Awami Party and Watan Dost Inquilaabi Party, held a protest outside the press club against forced conversions and religious extremism.

The fight reportedly started as the Sunni Tehreek supporters alleged that attendees at the SPC’s event had beaten up a man who had stopped them from chanting slogans that they alleged were against religion.

Sunni Tehreek’s protestors went back to the press club and the fight forced SPC event attendees to hide inside the club as the Sunni Tehreek men threw stones and chanted slogans against them. While some female SPC leaders including Professor Arfana Mallah and Sindh University lecturer and activist Amar Sindhu managed to escape, the police cordoned off the area around the press club and rescued the rest. While they had assumed the police would release them, they were sent to the Cantonment Police Station.

The Sunni Tehreek’s Abid Qadri alleged that the SPC had “attacked our man first” and “used abusive language”. Arfana Mallah said their protest was peaceful but they had been attacked by the Sunni Tehreek, who brought “weapons, stones and sticks” and “forced us not to chant slogans”.

According to the police, 23 men from the Sindh Progressive Committee were arrested. The Sunni Tehreek’s Hyderabad General Secretary Muhammad Yaseen Qadri registered a First Information Report (FIR) under sections 148, 147 and 149. Even though the FIR mentions 60 people, only three are mentioned by name – Comrade Iqbal, Allah Bux and Bakhshal Thallo. The Sunni Tehreek and SPC have both claimed their supporters were injured.

At the SPC’s protest in Karachi, activists demanded that Rinkle Kumari and Asha Kumari, the two women who have drawn attention to the rise of Hindu conversions in Sindh, be handed over to their parents. They chanted slogans against landlords, clerics, army generals and extremists and asked that the government separate religion from matters of the state.

Speakers included Yousuf Masti Khan, Nasir Mansoor, Jan Muhammad Buledi, Usman Baloch, Mehnaz Rehman, Comrade Iqbal and Abdul Khaliq Junejo. “We don’t support a state that promotes religious extremism and stifles the environment for other religions. Every man is free in this country and has the right to move freely and perform his religious rituals,” said Usman Baloch.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan appointed a new head of intelligence on Friday, injecting some uncertainty in America’s dealings with an agency crucial to its hopes of negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan Taliban and keeping pressure on al-Qaida.

Lt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam replaces Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who had been in the post since 2008 and was due to retire on March 18th. The scion of a military family who is currently army commander in the city of Karachi, Islam was considered a likely man for the job.

Islam, who between 2008 and 2010 was the deputy head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, will be a major player in any Pakistani efforts to get the Afghan Taliban to enter peace negotiations to end the war. ISI agents helped build up the Afghan Taliban in the 1990s, and its leaders are believed to be based in Pakistan. The ISI is considered to have some influence over them.

While there remain doubts over its loyalty, the ISI also works closely with the CIA in tracking and capturing members of al-Qaida, which retains a global command and training center close to the Afghan border.

Relations between Washington and the United States have been strained since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year and have all but collapsed since November, when American troops mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border. Intelligence cooperation between them has continued despite the tensions, officials from both nations have said. The ISI falls under the control of the army, which sets policy

KARACHI, March 4: An alliance of minority parties on Sunday appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take a suo motu notice of the kidnapping of a Hindu girl and order her immediate return to her parents to restore the waning sense of security in the minorities.

Speaking at a protest demonstration staged outside the Karachi Press Club, Pakistan Minority Leaders Alliance representatives said they would launch a protest movement and stage a sit-in on March 10 if the authorities failed to recover the girl, Rinkle Kumari.

According to an uncle of the girl, Raj Kumar, she was kidnapped from her house in Mirpur Mathelo over a week ago and forced to marry Naveed Shah and change her religion. He alleged that the case was heard by a civil judge in Ghotki, but he did not allow her relatives to enter the courtroom while giving a verdict in favour of the ‘kidnapper’, Mr Shah.

Speaking on the occasion, Jeay Sindh Mahaz chief Riaz Chandio expressed solidarity with the minority community members and demanded arrest of and punishment to culprits involved in her kidnapping.

He said those belonging to religious minority groups, including Hindus, Christians and Sikhs, were sons of the soil. They should not feel threatened by such acts, as all Sindhis were one and that they were equal citizens and had equal rights, he said.

He said it was unfortunate that the girl was given in police custody instead of being sent to Darul Aman.

Mr Chandio announced that if “the daughter of Sindh” was not rescued and returned and culprits were not arrested soon and punished according to law, a province-wide sit-it would be staged on Saturday.

Manohar Lal, Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker in the national assembly, condemned the kidnapping and forced conversion of a young girl. He urged the president to take notice of the incident.

He said Islam guaranteed protection to minorities, but such people were giving a bad name to the religion. With such incidents, a sense of insecurity was growing in the community, he said. Earlier their sons were kidnapped for ransom, but now their daughters were being kidnapped and forcibly converted, he remarked.

Jeay Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party leader Gulzar Soomro said that forced conversions were a conspiracy against Islam, which preaches love and peace and opposes use of force. He said the culprits were agents of the establishment that wanted to divide the Sindhis.

“Our patience should not be mistaken as our weakness,” he warned, seeking her immediate recovery.

A Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and former lawmaker, Michael Javed, said the Quaid-i-Azam had said that the minorities would be equal citizens in Pakistan, but over the years the Quaid’s message was being forgotten.

Amar Lal, a community leader, said he and the girl’s uncle had met US consulate general staff a few days back and political counsellor Junaid J. Muneer had assured him that the issue would be taken up with the authorities concerned. He said he had also received a call from a former political counsellor of the US embassy in Islamabad, L.K. Robinson, who was currently in Washington. He told him that he would take up the issue with human rights organisations there.

Raj Kumar, the girl’s uncle, earlier informed the gathering that on Feb 24, a few armed men barged into her home in Mirpur Mathelo and kidnapped her at gunpoint.

He said a case was filed in a Ghotki court where he said she gave a statement about the threats she had received to convert and marry Naveed Shah or she and her entire family would be killed. He quoted her as saying in the court that she wanted to return and live with her parents.

He also alleged that the judge, in the presence of gunmen in the court, sent her to police custody rather than to her parents’ home or to a shelter home. The next hearing was scheduled to be held at 11am on Feb 27, but the case was heard at 8.15am and the girl’s family was not allowed to enter the courtroom, he said, adding that the judge then gave a verdict in favour of Mr Shah.

Mr Kumar urged the chief justice to take a suo motu notice of the issue and order her safe return to her parents.

Earlier, the participants in the demonstration chanted slogans such as ‘we want justice’ and ‘Rinkle be rescued’.

Sweeping protests around the world made it an extremely difficult year for the media, and tested journalists as never before, the annual report into press freedom reveals.

The annual report by Reporters Without Borders has been released, showing the United States fell 27 points on the list due to the many arrests of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

The slide in the United States places it just behind Comoros and Taiwan in a group with Argentina and Romania.

Reporters Without Borders said the heightened unrest around the world resulted in a significant shake-up of the group’s annual Press Freedom Index, which assesses governments’ commitment to protecting media freedoms.

The Paris-based non-governmental Reporters Without Borders has named “crackdown” the word of 2011 in an assessment of global media freedom during a year in which journalists covering sweeping protests were tested as never before.

The non-governmental organisation seeks to defend journalists’ freedom to work and combat censorship internationally. ….

Sindh Democratic forum (SDF) condemns the targeting and harassment of Kawish group of newspapers and Channels, its journalists, employees and distributors. SDF feels that it as infringement of the freedom of the Press and right to free expression and access to correct information.

We have seen that over the last week acts of violence against the daily Kawish have been mounting in the province. Violence against the management and journalists of the beleaguered newspaper is unacceptable and the conspiracy to curb the Press freedom in Pakistan will be fought by the civil society.

SDF further resolved that press is the mirror of society and Sindhi press, as an integral part of Sindhi civil society have contributed a lot to protect the rights of the people and land and exposed the enemies of the people of Sindh. In this regard Kawish group has played an unprecedented role in highlighting Sindh’s case at all levels and SDF terms this attack on the group as an attack on the vibrant and dynamic voice of Sindhi society.

They have also highlighted the issues of all downtrodden, vulnerable and marginalized people of the other federating units of Pakistan and the region and even the whole world.

SDF has seen that from the ban on government advertisement to the level of burning of newspaper bundles are parts of systematic attacks to stop the voice of marginalized and vulnerable people of the province. SDF demands that PPP regime whose entire state machinery was otherwise active in violating the human rights of Sindhi people should at least take tangible and visible steps to protect Press freedom by providing security to Kawish against attacks from hooligans.

- Mongolians hold a press conference to highlight the issue of genocide of Hazaras

…. the Republic of Mongolia held a press conference to highlight the issue of Genocide of Hazaras in Pakistan. Apparently, a separate discussion was also staged with Mongolian Youths to brief them about the predicaments of Hazaras of Pakistan which is faced in the form of targeted killings, mass killings and ethnic persecution. ….

I started visiting Karachi in the mid-1990s after the Labor Party established a group there. Whenever I came to speak to a public meeting, comrades advised me to avoid verbal attacks on the MQM. “We have to live here” was the usual justification.

After the National Trade Union Federation was formed in 1998, I was one of the key speakers at the annual May Day rallies in Karachi. And whenever I ignored the advice and called the MQM a neo-fascist organization, I received maximum applause. It seemed that among the Karachi working class there was tremendous antagonism against the MQM, but not many were prepared to speak publically against this organization.

On 10th September 2011, speaking on GEO television, Mustafa Kamal, the former mayor of Karachi, responded to the criticism of some who talked to Hamid Mir by commenting, in coded language, of retaliation against those who dare to be critical. He falsely compared Bangladesh’s struggle for independence struggle with the situation of Karachi. One was a struggle by an exploited nationality against the atrocious treatment of the West Pakistan civilian and military establishment while in Karachi today there is a struggle to break the shackles of the neo-fascists, who have attempted to strangle working people for over three decades.

I distinctly remember 12 May 2007, when I was going to speak at a peasant rally in Punjab. I received several calls from Karachi, one from Azra Perveen, a female activist of the Labour Party. She had been part of a group organized by LPP to go to a rally at the airport and welcome the chief justice. Shots rang out while buses were still arriving. The main victims were ANP activists, whose bus had to stop and let the passengers rush to find safe places. Azra, whose white dress was drenched in blood, was forced to hide behind a pole as she tried to help the wounded.

I tried to contact Eidhi, the BBC and other media to aid activists encircled by MQM thugs. Earlier in the morning, I was informed that all the transport arranged by LPP had been withdrawn on the instructions of the MQM. No one was willing to risk their transport. In fact the previous day, even commercial painters refused to prepare the LPP banners because of the fear of retaliation by MQM. Nevertheless brave activists of the LPP, ANP and some other parties attempted to get the airport. They found containers blocking the roads and were fired on at several places.

On 10th September 2011 night, I was very angry to hear Mustafa Kamal denying that the MQM played a role in shedding blood in May 2007. Earlier in the press conference from his exile cage, Altaf Hussain, the “leader” accepted the MQM the “negligence” by the local chapter of MQM. And what a negligence, over 50 were killed, chief justice was unable to come out from the airport, all the main roads were blocked by the heavy containers and so on. This was an act of fascism. MQM believes in fascist philosophy that means the physical elimination of political opponents.

It was no accident that whenBenazir Bhutto visited our bookstall in Lahore in 1992, she bought all fifty copies of a booklet “FASCISM What It Is and How To Fight It.” The booklet was written by Leon Trotsky and translated in Urdu by Dr. Khalid Javed Jan. Benazir Bhutto must have felt the need to arm the activists of PPP with this booklet. And what a historical paradox that her husband Asif Ali Zardari is trying his best to go along with this terrorist organization instead of fighting it in an effort to win a “peace” in Karachi and other cities of Sindh.

You cannot have peace by compromising with the fascists. That is a lesson evident from studying the political history of the fascism. All the social democrats and even the communists who tried to compromise with Hitler, Mussolini, and Franc, the fascist leaders of Germany, Italy and Spain, became their victims. Fascists are not democrats. They do not believe in democracy. For them democracy is just an opportunity to spread their influence.

What is fascism? It is a system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of the opposition, private economic enterprise under centralized governmental control, belligerent nationalism, racism, and militarism. It is a mass movement, with its leaders employing a great deal of socialist demagogy. Its base is the petty bourgeoisie, the middle class.

The capital of Sindh, Karachi has been in the grip of a one-party dictatorship for long time. The MQM talks of revolution, instead of Socialist demagogy. It has always had close links with the military establishment; they always make efforts to smooth over any differences. The MQM gave full support to General Musharaf.

MQM has always used the race issue to unite the groups around it. Racism may be defined as the hatred of one person or group by another because of skin, color, language, customs, place of birth or any other factor. This reveals the belief that one is less than human establishes an unequal power relationship that is perpetuated through wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes.

In order to popularize its message, the MQM propagated the “discriminated” attitude of the Sindhis, Punjabis, Pushtoons and Baluchs against Urdu-speaking migrants. It uses the racist card to divide the working class in Karachi, the main industrial city of Sindh, Pakistan. MQM members make jokes about the native Balucies and Sindhies, revealing a contemptuous attitude that these people are not “civilized” enough to be equal to other people.

When journalist Hamid Mir asked a question Hyder Abbas Rizvi, a MQM representative of MQM, why the party pressurized the AAJ television channel to sack Nusarat Javed, one of the channel’s main anchor people who was sacked during a programme when he was criticizing MQM fascist tactics, , he responded by denying the charges, stating that no one from MQM called the AAJ owners. That may be so, but the sheer fear of MQM retaliation might have forced the owners to sack this reputed journalist.

What had Nusrat Javed said? He simply reacted to the three-hour press conference by Altaf Hussain, the chief of MQM by stating the whole nation was kept hostage for five hours. Yet the MQM representative slyly remarked that the MQM did not force the media to broad the entire conference but only gave out a press release announcing the conference. Yet it is the fear of retaliation by MQM that forced all the media to carry the entire the press conference live for over 5 hours.

Recent developments have forced the neo-fascist MQM retreat from their ambitious plan to expand nationally. All their sloganeering against feudalism is rolled back to their original political stand that to maintain their base among the Muhajirs, taking refuge in Karachi.

The case of the MQM exposes the failure of Pakistani state to address the question of racism and fascism. In fact, the Pakistani state is deeply rooted in religious bigotry and racist superiority where some nationalities are dominant and others are oppressed. It has tried to impose the Urdu language on the Bengalis as early as 1948. Sindhies have had to wage a struggle for their linguistic rights. The emergence of the MQM in the mid-1980, with the help of the military dictator General Zia Ul Haq was mainly based on the supposed superiority of the Urdu language. Different institutions of the state played vital role in bringing this monster up in the air and the MQM has very cleverly used this attitude against all other local, indigenous and other languages.

Today the MQM-PPP alliance reveals a crisis of bourgeoisie democracy. The PPP government is facing one of the most real crises it has faced so far during the three and half year of power. It is both the crisis of the system and the leadership. The so-called clever, smart, witty, intelligent, gifted and chic leadership of Asif Ali Zaradari has to confront one of his most trusted handpickedZulfiqar Mirza. The crisis has weakened the grip of PPP leadership from its own apparatus. It has weakened their basis in Sindh. That is a result of their policies of conciliations with the neo-fascists MQM. You can never gain by allying with your own enemies.

The working class must not have any illusions in Zulfiqar Mirza’s fight against the fascists. He wants to reap the anger of the working people of Sindh against MQM and put it back to PPP or to the military establishment but he cannot wage a serious fight against the fascists.

What is the way forward? It is revealed in the current struggle of the workers at Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) for jobs and against privatization. Here we see the MQM and the PPP united to crush the heroic struggle of the KESC trade union with state repression. We must support this struggle and demand an immediate release of the workers, organizing strike support actions. Building the working-class movement in Karachi is the answer to the present crisis.

It is with the present political scenario that the forces of the Left can expose the real nature of the neo-fascist forces and the danger it presents for the working class in Pakistan. At different times religious fundamentalists or the neo-fascist MQM have been promoted by state institutions and bourgeoisie in order to divide and conquer and thus maintain rotten capitalism. Both, along their master, deserve rejection by the working people of Pakistan.

About the writer – Farooq Tariq is spokesperson of the Labour Party Pakistan

…. The gist of the press conference was that Western powers were plotting the dismemberment of Pakistan, but the Muttahida had resolved to foil the design.

Repeated assurances were made to the armed forces, the Inter-Services Intelligence as well as the nation that the MQM was against conspiracies being hatched against the country.

Mr Hussain chose not to answer the serious allegations levelled by former Sindh home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza against him and his party over the past fortnight, parrying a number of questions by reporters.

He concentrated on showing documents, maps and reports from the international media to strengthen his contention that international powers were working for the break-up of Pakistan.

Although he refused to pinpoint the international powers he was referring to, an allusion left no doubt: “The country which has the biggest influence in Pakistan is behind such conspiracies”. The MQM cannot fight such powers alone, Mr Hussain added. “There would have been no super power had the army, the ISI and the MQM got united.”

The MQM supremo accused the leadership of the Awami National Party of “misleading the Pukhtoons living in Karachi and Peshawar”. He even went to the extent of claiming that the United States had given millions of dollars to Asfandyar Wali for contesting the 2008 general election. ….

Alert – Ethnic political group allied with ruling party releases journalist “hit list”

(PPF/IFEX) – The Mohajir Rabita Council (MRC), an ethnic political group in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh, has issued a list of twelve Pakistani journalists it denounced as being “chauvinists”, and criticized their alleged role in the violence during protest rallies held in Karachi on 12 May 2007, during the visit of the suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftekhar Mohammed Chaudhary to the city.

The MRC is considered to be closely associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party allied to President Pervez Musharraf and the main coalition partner in the Sindh provincial government.

In a press statement, the vice-president and secretary general of MRC said the organization had established a special unit to inform the new generation about their “enemies”. The statement also condemned certain television programmes and accused them of “playing a dangerous game to destroy Pakistan by igniting linguistic prejudices.”

The names of the journalists on the list include: Zafar Abbas of the daily newspaper “Dawn”; Azhar Abbas of Dawn TV; Mazhar Abbas of AFP; Ayaz Amir, a “Dawn” columnist; Sajjad Mir of TV One; Irfan Siddiqui of daily “Nawa-e-Waqt”; Dr. Shahid Masood of Geo TV; Aneeq Ahmed of ARY TV; Asfar Imam of Aaj TV; Zahid Hussain of Geo TV; Shaheen Sehbai of ARY TV; and Zarar Khan of AP. Also included in the list was Iqbal Haider, secretary general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

A press release issued by the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) expressed concern at the MRC statement, which it described as a serious threat to free media and an attempt to gag the press. ….

- In his televised press conference from London to Pakistani media, MQM chief Altaf Hussain has warned that if Supreme court will decides against then HE WILL GIVE FREE HAND TO ALL MQM WORKERS to demand and act accordingly.

Mr. Altaf spent a lot of time accusing the USA and UK of wanting to ‘cut Pakistan into pieces’. He said that ARMY/ISI and MQM should join hands together as combined/united platform so that USA/UK can be challenged firmly and Pakistan will then survive!?? …

SINDH – KARACHI: MQM Chief Altaf Hussain has addressed his supporters and the media in a televised press conference.

He had said that there are various conspiracies at work that want to harm Pakistan and that he would make a number of important revelations. He said that he may not be able to have another chance to make a speech.

Altaf Hussain commiserated with people who had lost their loved ones during the violence that has engulfed Karachi.

He said that a number of MQM workers have been targeted in Karachi and that many of them had been subjected to torture before being murdered. Altaf Hussain said that his party workers had been ruthlessly killed.

Altaf Hussain also accused the Peoples Aman Committee of being involved in the gang warfare taking place in Lyari and of being responsible for target killings in Karachi.

The MQM chief said that he is not the enemy of Pashtuns and paid tribute to political figures such as Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

He said that the MQM had always stood against feudalism in Pakistan and that he opposed the exploitation of the resources of the country.

Altaf Hussain also said that anti-state elements want to dismember Pakistan and accused ANP Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan of being on the payroll of the Americans and that he had been given millions of dollars by the United States to win elections.

He also accused other politicians in Pakistan of following orders that were given to them by America.

MQM leader Altaf Hussain also accused the ANP of misleading its workers in Karachi. He said that the PPP and PML-N have both failed to live up to the Charter of Democracy agreement that was signed between the two political parties.

Altaf Hussain said that the PML-N was in possession of a large cache of weapons in Punjab.

The MQM chief also said that former prime minister and PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif withdrew forces from Kargil after being told to do so by the United States. …..

LONDON: The Chairman of Ansar Burney Trust International and former Federal Minister for human rights, Mr. Ansar Burney, in the greater interest of Country’s sovereignty and integrity has requested with the honourable Supreme Court to take suo motto notice on the statement of Senior Minister of Sind Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza as he alleged that present Government is involved in Terrorism and against the integrity of Pakistan.

He was addressing a Press Conference in a local hotel at Central London.

He said that he will now fight for Peace, harmony and against increasing Corruption, Terrorism and worst kind of human rights violations in the Country. He has now announced his most ambitious campaign – to rid Pakistan of corruption.

He also declared President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani as most liar President and Prime Minister in the entire history of Pakistan and announced a campaign that will target corrupt figures in the country’s government, judiciary, education system, police and business community, he said.

He said the country is almost in civil war and am upset as to why Supreme Court , Chief of Army Staff and other Pakistan loving people and organisations are quite on the allegations of Zulfiqar Mirza as these allegations were not against any party, politics, person but matter and concern of Nation and Pakistan? “This is the right time to launch an anti-corruption and Terrorism campaign.” Burney added.

Mr. Ansar Burney said with sorrow and grief said that Pakistan and the entire Nation at present are facing painful and inhuman period of human rights violations because of increasing high corruption and terrorism and very sadly Political parties are become supporters to each others in this regard. ….

Movement for Tolerance of Pakistan & India Peace Coalition announced a Peace Vigil on July 27, 6:30 pm at Hyderabad Press Club organized. The vigils are being held in the various cities of Pakistan and India on the occasion of India-Pakistan foreign ministers meeting.

…Two great champions of Islam with prominent beards, …, received Rs. 0.3 and Rs. 3.3 million each. In vernacular terminology, all the maal-e haram was received as maal-e-halal.

The yaum-e-shuhada ceremony held at GHQ has been consistently aired on various TV channels to reinvigorate those special feelings of the ordinary people towards the special khakis, with …. dedicating everything she has got to the shaheeds in general and ghazis in particular. On 9th May 2011, a quarter page advertisement in color appeared on the front page of daily “Jang” on behalf of veteran politician Haji …., currently running a Qabza group in Rawalpindi, and Islamabad. The ad read that all those ridiculing the army and the ISI were following the agenda of the enemies of Pakistan. The ad contained basic mistakes but had cost millions.

On 11th May 2011 a rally was organized in front of the parliament in Islamabad in support of the army and the ISI in which some children from government schools and a few workers of Capital Development Authority(CDA) carried placards and raised slogans in favor of the army and the ISI. The rally began at a time when Mian Nawaz Sharif was about to announce his party’s stand on the Abbotabad incident and ended when Nawaz Sharif ended his press conference. Interestingly the children did not know why they were brought to the venue and the leader of the rally a labor leader of CDA …. said that he himself arranged the rally. Some of the slogans written on the placards were” We love ISI” “Pak army zindabad” and “ISI zindabad”

…, Haji … and children of a model school chanting slogans in support of ISI would definitely raise the morale of our premier intelligence outfit.

Who paid for the costly ad and who arranged the rally is not difficult to understand.

In conclusion, the chains of repression referred to by Zamir Niazi are no more there yet the invisible ones targeting human weaknesses, stronger and more addictive have come all the way to enslave a large part of our media.

It also appears that today, armor and infantry, artillery and air defense, radars and aircraft are no more relevant as the external threat appears irrelevant to our security establishment.

Media management and manipulation, TV channels and FM stations ceremonies and rallies, eavesdropping equipment, lobbying and campaigning, psyops and propaganda comprise the new hardware and software quite relevant to our valiant armed forces for countering an internal as well as the external threat.

…. In the latest challan submitted to an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, paragraph 42 relates to the subject. “In this press conference the then DG, NCMC, not only announced the cause of death of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto but also declared that the terrorists belonged to Baitullah Mehsud, chief commander of TTP. The credibility of investigation of this case was affected by the premature press conference.”

… Interior ministry sources said they believed that Brig (retd) Cheema had acted only on the instructions of his immediate boss Kamal Shah who accompanied him at the ISI headquarters. They said the decision to address the press conference had been taken at a meeting held the same morning at the Rawalpindi camp office with the then president and the chief of army staff Gen Pervez Musharraf in the chair. Brig (retd) Ejaz Shah, the former chief of Intelligence Bureau and a trusted aide to Gen (retd) Musharraf, confirmed in his statement, a copy of which is also available with DawnNews, that the meeting had been held. “The intercepted CD and medical report was provided by the ISI. The briefing was given by DG-C to the participants.”

According to sources, the JIT has not yet interrogated Maj-Gen Naeem who is living in Rawalpindi and reportedly working at the Bahria Town.

ISLAMABAD: Former Interior Ministry’s spokesman Brigadier (retired) Javed Iqbal Cheema had revealed in the documents obtained by DawnNews that material for the press conference which was held on December 28, 2007 after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was provided to him by a high ranking Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official.

DawnNews has obtained from the Interior Ministry and FIA sources the statements of Cheema and former director general of Military Intelligence (MI) Ijaz Shah.

The statements revealed that Cheema had confessed before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that Maj. General Nusrat Naeem, the then director general of Counter Intelligence wing of ISI, had provided him the content for the press conference.

Naeem who works in Behria Town Rawalpindi after his retirement could be included in the investigations, said sources.

CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak will meet the demands of protesters, military and ruling party officials, the Associated Press reported Thursday, in the strongest indication yet that Egypt’s longtime president may be about to give up power. …

Urdu press and leading television channels, played a catalytic role in what happened. They lament that the responsibility of Taseer’s assassination rests with the irresponsible media and its howling and yelling anchors. The Jamaat-e-Islami and Sipah-e-Sahaba affiliated journalists and analysts in the media berated and maligned Taseer for supporting poor Christian rural worker Aasia Bibi …

Julian Assange is arrested. But his influence can’t be arrested. Freedom of Press can’t be suppressed. Truth should be exposed, no matter how bitter it is.

A team of youngsters is launching this new web site ‘IndianLeaks’ to protest the arrest of Julian Assange. If one Julian Assange is suppressed more Assange’s will be born world wide. This website is proof for this.

Hereby we call all the Indians to expose the documents related to corruption, crime and other issues where Government, Politicians and Corporate world are in nexus. As it was mentioned in WikiLeaks, we also accept restricted or censored material of political, ethical, diplomatic or historical significance. Please don’t send the documents which are not credible, or which are based on rumour, opinion, other kinds of first hand accounts or material that is publicly available elsewhere. Your documents should not have been published anywhere else in India or the world. Upload the documents you have. ….

QUETTA: Six bullet-riddled bodies were found from different parts of Balochistan during the three days of Eidul Azha.

According to sources, two bullet-riddled bodies were found from Kech Kaur near Hiruk area of Turbat on Thursday. They have been identified as Lala Hameed Baloch, president of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) and another Hamid Ismail. Hameed Baloch was a journalist and a member of the Gwadar Press Club. The bodies were taken to nearby hospital for autopsy.

A complete strike was observed on Friday in Gwadar, Pasni, Jiwani, Turbat and Hoshap condemning the killing of political opponents.

Another two bullet-riddled bodies were found in Kad Kocha area of Mastung, some 120 kilometers off the provincial capital. The bodies were identified as of Bashir Ahmed Lehri and Inayathullah who had been missing for more than two months.

Bashir was kidnapped along with Zahoor Baloch, a member of the Balochistan Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-Azad) in Ramazan. “The government functionaries are involved in the killings,” relatives alleged.

A bullet-riddled body of a student, Samiullah Mengal, was found near Ferozabad area of Khuzdar, some 300-kilometre from Quetta on Wednesday. Samiullah was BSO-Azad activist and had been missing for the last 45 days when he was returning to Khuzdar from Sasol.

Another body was discovered on Friday from Kapotu area of Kalat district and had been identified as Nasurrallah Baloch. ….

Journalistic corruption is doubly evil because infected columnists and ‘plot-zada’ journalists then collude with corrupt generals, politicians and bureaucrats and aid them in their thievery in the hopes of a few crumbs falling their way.

The institutionalized loot and plunder of state resources, especially the allotment of expensive residential plots to hand-picked Darbari journalists by successive governments to ‘shackle their pens’, has reached unprecedented heights in Pakistan.

The so-called fourth pillar of the state – the press – has been witnessing its foundations reeling under the burden of the ‘legendary journalists’, who do not tire while preaching morality and ethics on electronic and in print media, have become the part of this dirty loot.

Media are considered a watchdog for any society. Journalists are supposed to point out loopholes in the government policies for safeguarding public money and greater public interest. But one wonder if journalists too get themselves involved into dirty plot politics, who would safeguard greater public interest and the interest of tens of teeming millions who are shelterless, jobless, needy and poor, who perhaps deserve far more than those for whom the floodgates of the taxpayers’ money see no limit. …

Nawaz Sharif is against Mushrraf and was not ready even to talk and compromise with him. He wanted Mushraf to be ousted at earliest but Mr Nawaz Sharif could not manage such long march during the tenure of Mushraf. In my view this long march was made successful by hidden forces to convey message to USA that Zaradari has no free hand and can be made under pressure any time. In the situation when March appeared to be getting forceful USA came to compromise by accepting Chief Justice .This is not first time that USA has compromised to keep Pakistan as partner in war on terrorism. Before this unaccounted supply of money, recent favor to help Pakistan in getting loan from IMF and also soft attitude on the time of recent dispute between India and Pakistan are more examples of compromise by USA.

Although there is no declaration of any agreement but the indication in press are very clear that matter of Chief Justice was resolved as result of an agreement whereby chief justice will not touch missing peoples issues. In this way the interests of Zardari and USA has been taken care of. On the other hand when Chief Justice has accepted some conditions how he will be able to retain his title of totally neutral. In my view it was play between the strong lobbies within boundry and each of them know their limits.

Pakistani press, anti Sindhi elements and establishment has been making propaganda against Sindhis and has always been considering them hurdle. As result of long propaganda Punjabi and Urdu speaking brothers have same approach for Sindhis. Since Bhutto was Sindhi and peoples party is some times hurdle being united platform of majority Sindhis every one who will be in better position in PPP may it be Zardari or other will be criticized by those lobbies. As result of that propaganda it has become fashion to talk against Zardari. We want him to take all decisions on merit ignoring the powerful factor in country and international forces. The article of Dr. Manzoor Aijaz few days ago on Zardari also seems to be under same approach and fashion and this too has been focused on limited areas under specific purpose. As referred in article that it was political wisdom of Nawaz Sharif that he came to lead the issue. Look at his wisdom in recent past when he two times decided to boycott elections. Once BiBi and other time Zardari convinced him to change the decisions. Where he had been politically if he had boycotted the election.

"The brave speak the truth Let others like it or not; For the talk of false friendship we care not." ~ Sachal Sarmast, Secular Sindhi Sufi poet (1739–1829)

"Aad sach, jugaad sach. Hai bhi sach, Nanak, hosi bhi sach." ~ Guru Nanak Jee. - Translation: truth is the beginning and the end. Nanak, truth is now and truth is all there will be tomorrow.

M. A. Jinnah’s Speech

"You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State." - Founder of Pakistan - M. A. Jinnah.
“Minorities to whichever community they may belong, will be safeguarded. Their religion of faith or belief will be secure. There will be no interference of any kind with their freedom of worship. They will have their protection with regard to their religion, faith, their life, and their culture. They will be, in all respects, the equal citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste or creed.” ~ M. A. JINNAH, July 14, 1947, at a press conference in New Delhi.
"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world." ~ Nelson Mandela

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About us

``In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own. I learned who I was and who I wanted to be, what I might aspire to, and what I might dare to dream about my world and myself. But I felt that I, too, existed much of the time in a different dimension from everyone else I knew. There was waking, and there was sleeping. And then there were books, a kind of parallel universe in which anything might happen and frequently did, a universe in which I might be a newcomer but was never really a stranger. My real, true world. My perfect island.`` -(ANNA QUINDLEN)
In the past I have been jack of all trades- Now my activity is bloging. My off time after my office/job/ is spent mostly with my family [wife & two children (son & daughter). I believe in positive mental attitude and dedication. I am living in Canada and my destiny is hope. "
... and the Truth will set you free." - John 8:32
Editor-Moderator, IAOJ

SAVE INDUS RIVER

HOW COME BAGLIHAR DAM WRONG & KALABAGH DAM RIGHT? “WHEN INDIA DIVERTS PAKISTAN’S WATER, IT IS A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE UNDER INTERNATIONAL RIVER LAW, WHEN PUNJAB DOES THE SAME TO SINDH, IT IS DEEMED NECESSARY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAKISTAN.”.- Humaira Rahman, a Sindhi-Canadian environmentalist.

"IF YOU WANT TO KILL RIVER BUILDING DAMS IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT." - CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY MAKER MICHAEL BUCKLEY.

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
- Every one has the right to freedom of opinion & expression this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference & to seek, receive & impart information and ideas through any media & regardless of frontiers ...

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OUR BELIEFS:

We believe that we can change the world. Yes, we do.
WE BELIEVE IN WOMEN RIGHTS- Woman is an Independent Human being to take decision on her life.
We believe in making the world a safer place to live in & spread love & peace.
We have;
No any profit motives.
No government intervention and influence.
No prejudice & jealousy to others. Our Slogan is: All Nations, All Races, All Creeds have same dreams and same needs.

Voltaire

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" ~ Voltaire

Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
by narrow domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening
thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father,
let my country awake. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

The process of change

- [You cannot expect change to happen overnight. The process of change is slow and gradual. It is a work in progress all the time. It happens through legislation, it happens through social transformation, attitude change, and mindset change. So it is indeed a work in progress all the time. You have to keep working on it, without worrying too much to see the outcome in your lifetime....Kaifi Azmi]
- [Change can come in either of two important ways: start behaving positively or stop behaving negatively- Dr. Phill]
- [Freedom cannot exist without discipline, self-discipline, and rights cannot exist without duties. Those who do not observe their duties do not deserve their rights. - Oriana Fallaci.]

The Earth

Our planet doesn't come with a spare. We all have a choice we can continue to drain natural resources while creating more and more pollution or we can make a change we can.. And until we find another planet Earth.

Tao Te Ching (4th cent. BCE)

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.
--Tao Te Ching (4th cent. BCE)